I would like to welcome you on behalf of the Knockholt Carnival Committee, to our Annual General Meeting; the last twelve months have been busy and noteworthy in numerous respects.

It all started with the resignation at the last AGM of our previous Chair Gill Storey and my appointment as the new Chairman. We unfortunately had two more resignations; Sue Fowler and Johnny Woolley, we thank them all for all their hard work. On the positive we have been joined by new members Chris Woolley (a family swap), Lisa Jones and Sarah Collier our new Secretary, I would like to thank them and the rest of the committee of Terry, Doreen, Justine & Tim for all their work throughout the year and also our many volunteers which make our events possible.

In July we had our bi annual carnival, which judging by feedback from the public was a great community success and was well attended on a lovely summer’s day. This event was a steep learning curve for me, and my husband John, and we have ideas to improve and make this easier for 2018. The committee has already started thinking about next year’s carnival and the planning will start soon. We will be announcing the theme at the presentation of cheques following this AGM.

In September 2016 we held our 3rd annual Knockholt Beer Festival in conjunction with Chris Cheeseman (The Craft Beer Man) which has now become well established, with people travelling some distance to attend.

Fireworks 2016 didn’t go so well because we had to have it a week earlier, which meant it conflicted with school half term holidays and Halloween. Although numbers were down on previous years, the feedback from the public was very good and I was told by many people that the display was excellent. Fireworks 2017 is booked with the pyrotechnics company and will be on Saturday 4th November, so hopefully we should be back to our usual numbers with weather permitting.

Looking ahead to 2017 which is already flying past we are starting with a new event, The Great Knockholt Bake Off 14th May in the Village Centre and I hope this will be well attended and a lot of fun.

We are hoping to hold our 3rd bi annual music festival Knockstock in conjunction with Mark Hadaway on the 15^th July 2017. For many reasons the Recreation Ground is unsuitable and the garden of The Three Horseshoes will be tried as an alternative venue on a smaller scale.

September 23rd will see our 4th annual Beer Festival and as I previously mentioned the Fireworks is all booked for 4th November.

Although some of our events didn’t make as much money as previous years we are still able to make substantial donations to our chosen charities and many local clubs, schools and societies. I feel that it’s not just about money though, the village community is very important too and without their support none of our events would be possible.